Eyes of Madness
by Mike73
Summary: Though he always lead a normal life, Ethan has always felt something was a bit "off" about events that happened in his life. Strange happenings that were never explained and shady actions by his best friend only seem to gain more meaning after he begins to experience dream-like and surreal visions that feel more real than he wants to believe. Contains references to past characters.
1. Tense Drive

**A/N: Hello everyone, thanks for taking your time to read my story. This isn't my first fanfiction, but it is my first Silent Hill one. This is an idea that I've had ever since I got into the series about six months ago, but just now got to writing it down. The plot and characters are mostly going to be original, but there's going to be references to the past games that affect the plot, and past characters who play an indirect role as well.**

**I'm going to try to update at least once a week, but for the start I'm going to try for twice a week if I can. If there's any criticisms or some tips you have on what I can do to make this better, don't be afraid to hold back or to tell me. Thanks again!  
**

Dread. That was the feeling in the air; a specific dread that only ever came from knowing that something horrible was going to happen, and knowing that, one would still continue on despite the fate that waited for them. Fate, something cruel enough to ruin your life and be able to stop you from being able to do anything about it. That is what made the journey even more tense, anxious, and even almost unbearable.

That was all that was on the young man's mind as he sat in the passenger seat of the car. He felt that maybe he was just over-dramatizing the situation, seeing as he wasn't actually in any real danger. But it's always easier to make the worst out of a situation like this, than to just think of a way out.

At least, that's the way he always saw it, it's just the way he'd always been.

"Hey, you ok?"

His head snapped up away from leaning on the window as the voice suddenly broke his train of thought. He'd nearly forgotten that there was anybody else in the car with him, being so deep into his own thoughts. He turned to the voice, the driver, and was about to say something when they said "Jeez, how'd I scare you?"

A bit embarrassed, he replied "Sorry, I was just thinking."  
"About what," the driver asked, "Was it something scary, 'cuz you almost jumped off your seat and out the window!"  
The passenger gave a small laugh before saying "Kind of, I guess. It's just, you know, I got a lot on my mind right now."  
"Yeah, I know."

They were quiet for a bit, the tone between them a solemn one as rain began to pitter-patter on the roof of the car. As he started up the windshield wipers, the driver continued "You know, you can talk to me. You don't have to be quiet all the time."  
"...Yeah."  
"Don't just give me a 'yeah,' ok," the driver told him, exasperation beginning to build in his voice, "I'm serious! You never say more than that, and you never want to talk or anything."  
Hesitating, he eventually replied, saying "I'm just...I don't know. Just quiet, I guess. You should know that."  
"Yeah, but not with me."  
"Things are just...different...right now, you know. With what's been going on, I just don't want to talk too much right now."  
With a sigh, the driver told him, "Maybe you should _just_ be quiet right now."

After hearing what he thought was a hint of mockery in the driver's voice, he decided to just stop talking anyway. He wasn't really in the mood to argue, and a fight was not going to make his situation any better. It made him begin to think again about what was going on. It seemed like everything depended on him to make sure things went the way it was supposed to.

'Always stand up for family.' That was what he had always been taught all his life. Though Jacob wasn't exactly family, he was a family friend, his best friend, and had been taken in when he had no where else to go. That was just as good as family. Yet still, he couldn't help but feel guilty for what he was going to do to help his friend. It didn't feel right, and was definitely illegal, but if it meant helping Jacob...

Just thinking about what was soon to come just made him even more anxious. They were quiet for the rest of the drive, which wasn't for long since they arrived at their destination five minutes later, yet they both felt the same way for the entire trip. As they drove up to the building and parked in the first available spot they could find, the passenger's body began to tighten up a bit.

"Hey. Relax."  
Letting out a slow breath, he replied "Y-yeah. Ok."

As they both got out of the car, the former driver pointed and said "Looks like Jacob's already here." There were a couple of squad cars parked about twenty feet away.  
"Maybe. It could just be from somebody else though," the former passenger replied.  
"Nah, we're already late. We should talk less and just go in, they're probably waiting for us by now."

Nodding nervously, he then followed his driver into the building. As they walked through the double doors, he felt a sudden chill that seemed to pierce deep into his body and crawl agonizingly slowly down his spine. He shuddered and dismissed it just as nerves. He was cold, after all, and had gotten soaked from the rain by the time they'd reached the building. Still, he felt its foreboding all the same, wondering what exactly it was for.

As soon as they made it in, they took their phones and wallets out of their pockets and put it down on a table at the side.

"You first," a security guard said to the former passenger. He walked through an archway, and when no alarm went off he retrieved his things again and put them back in his pockets. He was soon followed by the person who'd drove him there, and they then were allowed to sign in at the receptionists desk. Once that was all done, they were directed to the waiting room, where they sat down until they were to be called in.

They noticed that there were only a few other people there, though they didn't have anything to do with them. They had their own problems to deal with. The silence was awkward as they waited to be called in, and a few times they tried to make small talk, but with little success.

The former passenger casually said "Looks like a slow day, huh?"  
"Hmm."  
"Probably because it's a Monday, huh?"  
"Uh-huh."  
"...Wonder why they still use that old metal detector. You'd think they'd replace it by now, don't you?"  
"Sure."

Seeing as that conversation wasn't going anywhere, he decided to just keep quiet once again. Just as much as talking was awkward for him, so was the silence as well. All he could do now was wait; wait until the time when he was to help decide his best friend's fate.


	2. Trial and Error

"Ethan Burke and...David Burke?"

The former passenger, after having heard his name get called first, suddenly looked around. He'd been deep in thought as the silence had gone on, and the sudden new voice caught him off guard. Looking ahead of him, he saw that a woman had called their names. She wore her black hair in a tight bun, giving her a very uptight look, which made Ethan think to not look her directly in the eyes as got up to go over there.

"Come on, it's time now," David told him, already up from his chair and waiting for Ethan to get going.  
"I guess it is," Ethan replied to his former driver. They both then walked up to the woman, who gestured for them to follow her through the door she had come through.

As they went through the door, Ethan saw there was only a hallway between them and the room where that they were to go to. He attempted to try to straighten out his black shirt out better, as well as trying making sure that his blue jeans weren't sagging down. He didn't have any nice clothes to wear, and it wasn't until just now that he was starting to feel even more self-conscious than usual.

"Relax," David told him again, noticing how fidgety Ethan was starting to get again, "Just relax. Everything's going to be ok, alright?"  
"Fine, fine," Ethan replied nervously, "I'll try."  
Nodding, David gave a comforting smile before his face turned grim again, turning forward as they reached the door at the end. They both took a deep breath, then entered into the room as the woman opened the door.

Ethan could see that the court room was packed inside. He didn't think that this many people would come just to be an audience for the case, it almost made him feel a bit sick. He didn't think he was going to have to testify in front of this many people. Even just having to walk through the room to sit in the appropriate row made him feel uncomfortable, though the person talking to the witness at the stand hardly gave David and him a glance before continuing on. It just made him feel like he was intruding in on someone, coming in like that and being as late as he was.

As the both of them sat down, he could see Jacob sitting a couple seats ahead of him, though he was sitting at a table instead of being in the audience. Turning around, he saw Ethan and David and gave them a quick grin before turning back around, with Ethan flashing a sheepish smile back. It wasn't much, but it was as if they had just had a conversation.  
'Glad to see you actually made it.'  
'Of course. I'd never let you down.'

For awhile they just sat there as they waited for it to be Ethan's turn to take the stand. He wasn't really sure what it was that the witness was testifying about at the moment, and found it hard to focus on the conversation at hand. Instead, he eventually began to just stare out the window and listen to the steadily growing sound of rain falling, as if he were daydreaming in school. It seemed stupid to him that he would stop paying attention so quickly though, and he eventually forced himself to try to listen to what was going on, and not a moment too soon as well.

"The defense calls Ethan Burke to the stand." For a second or two, Ethan just sat there, unaware that it was finally his time to go up.  
"Hey, that's you," David whispered to him, nudging him in the side.

Ethan stood up quickly, a bit embarrassed from the delayed reaction. Slowly, he walked up to the witness stand, feeling all eyes on him. When asked to take the oath, he hesitated for a moment before saying "I do," feeling a horrible gut feeling as he did so before finally taking his seat. There was a moment of silence, and then Jacob's defence attorney began to question him.

"Mr. Burke, what relation do you have to Jacob?"  
"He's a family friend."  
"And how long have you known him?"  
"Since I was about four years old."  
"And how old are you now?"  
"I'm nine-teen."  
"So you've known him for fifteen years then? Wouldn't you say that's enough time to get to know his character and standards?"  
"Of course." Ethan ran his hand through his short brown hair as he answered that last question, as he attempted to hide his nerves.  
"So what would you say about him, given that you know him as well as you do?"  
"Well, he's always been a responsible and respectful person. He's never gotten into fights or committed any crimes before. He's given his time to charity, and he was due for a military tour in the Middle East a couple weeks ago."  
"So overall, he's been a pretty upstanding guy all his life as you've known him, correct?"  
"...Yes."

"Objection your honor!"

Ethan looked around, disturbed by the sudden interjection, and saw that it was the prosecutor who had said it. It seemed even more dramatic after lightning shone out and thunder boomed just after the exclamation.

"On what grounds," exclaimed the attorney, "I am establishing the defendant's character!"  
After a short squabble between the two sides, the judge put an end to it by saying "The defense may continue with the actual questioning. You have already attempted to establish character with the witness's father. Please continue on with your case."

"Very well," the attornney muttered under his breath before continuing on, asking "Mr. Burke, do you know where my client was at the time of the crime that he is being accused of?"  
"Uh, yeah, I mean yes." Ethan quickly corrected himself before saying, "I was with him. We were at his friend's house."  
"Are you aware that your friend has already taken the stand without you being present?"  
"Yes."  
"Do you believe your friend has told the truth?"  
"...I do." Ethan shifted around uncomfortably in his seat as thunder clapped again and lightning struck once more, even brighter this time.  
"Good. So what were you doing at your friend's house?"  
"Jacob and I were just hanging out over there. We watched some TV, played some video games, that was it."  
"So the two of you didn't leave with your friend? He didn't go anywhere with you?"  
After a moment of hesitation, he answered "No. He never left with us."  
"...That is all for now, your honor."

'Now here comes the hard part,' Ethan thought to himself. He knew that it was now the prosecutor's turn to question him. He also knew that the prosecutor was going to have no problem trying to make him break under pressure, which would most likely happen if he let himself get intimidated.

"Mr. Burke," the prosecutor started out, "You say that you've known the defendant for most of your life. How is that?"  
"My parents took him in when he was about ten years old. We'd only known him for about a year by then, but we got close really fast. His mom was raising him by herself, but she ended up just...disappearing one day."  
"She...disappeared?"  
"Yeah."

Moving on, the prosecutor then said "So you say that the defendant is, pretty much, a good person. You've never seen him act violently towards anyone then? Never threatened people? Nothing like that?"  
"N-no!" Ethan exclaimed, though his voice was almost drowned out by the sound of the thunder outside. It made him jump this time as it sounded off, not expecting it to be so loud. It looked like everyone else was starting to get distracted from the storm outside as well, since a few people were shifting around uncomfortably.

"Can you please repeat the answer?"  
Ethan recomposed himself, and then simply said "No. I have never seen him act violent."  
With the both of them giving each other a poker face, the prosecutor retreated back to table and picked up a file.  
"Mr. Burke...are you aware that this isn't the first time the defendant has been brought to court?"  
"Yes. He was being sued for battery a couple years ago. The case ended up being dropped though. Wasn't enough evidence for a conviction."  
"Really," she replied, pulling out a paper and reading it as she said so, "So you're not aware then that the victim of that case was actually intimidated into dropping the case?"  
"...That never happened," Ethan said quietly.

"If you want I could let you read it," she continued, "It says what really happened right here." She cleared her throat, and then announced "It says that halfway into the case, he began to experience what he thought were hallucinations. He would hear whispering when he went to bed, would see shadows darting away from the corner of his eyes, and would have dreams about a shadowy figure who would come to him in the middle of an empty field and just stare at him until he woke up. He eventually dropped the case due to what he thought was just exhaustion."

"Objection your honor," the defense attorney suddenly rang out, "What relevance does this have to the case against my client?"  
"I'm establishing motive, your honor," the prosecutor retorted back.  
"You may proceed," the judge answered, "But please hurry it up and move on."

"Will do," the prosecutor replied, "Now I've brought this up for a purpose, that being that when the victim went to his doctor to try to find out what was wrong. After a few tests, they found the remains of an unknown substance in his stomach. As turned out, they were just seeds. However, research done it revealed it to be a mutant strain of the flower Morning Glory, whose seeds produce hallucinogenic effects."  
"And?" Ethan asked, not sure where this was going.  
"Well, I ended up digging into this," she began to explain, "And couldn't find out much information about it. But as I recall, the defendant had once been accused of bringing drug paraphernalia to school once a few years back, as stated by his file. The "drugs" turned out to just be seeds. The same kind of seeds that I believe were used to give the victim his hallucinations."

Ethan was dead quiet. He didn't have any idea how she could have known about any of that. He knew that somebody must have confessed to her already, most likely anonymously. Either way, this was not good. 'Now I might be in trouble,' Ethan thought to himself desperately.

"I don't even know what to say to that," Ethan eventually managed to say.  
"We both know that isn't true."  
"Yea-"  
"Not only did you know about this, but you actually played a part in it, didn't you," she exclaimed accusingly, "You helped set it up!"  
"What!? No! I never...we never-"  
"Yes you did, and the evidence is right here."  
"I never threatened anybody!"  
"Quit the denial, you did it and we have proof!"

One final clash of thunder, and all was dark.

There were some screams as the power went out. People were scuffling around in a panic, though Ethan wasn't really sure why. It was just dark, it wasn't like lightning hit the court house itself. He heard the judge calling out "Order! Order!" a few times, and after he'd gotten everybody to calm down he decided to call for a quick recess until the power was restored. With a sigh of relief, Ethan quickly made his way out of the court room, not waiting for Jacob or his dad.

He needed to be alone.


	3. The Second Kind

The sound of running water was all that could be heard, splashing as it ran free from the faucet that it came from. Ethan cupped as much of it as he could in his hands and threw it onto his face, letting the coolness of the water run down his head and drip back into the sink. It calmed him a bit, and soon his once-hurried breathing was able to relax back to a steady rhythm. He let the water run as he looked up, seeing his reflection in the mirror in front of him. He saw a face full of worry looking back at him.

He'd gone straight to the bathroom as soon as they all had been excused from the court room. He had felt like he was going to throw up and spent a couple minutes dry-heaving into one of the toilets in the only available stall he could find there. He was a bit embarrassed and hoped he hadn't disturbed the person in the other stall, but eventually pushed the thought out of his head since he didn't need anything more on his mind than what he already had.

Those seeds...what were they? He couldn't stop thinking about them now that they'd been brought up again. The first time he saw them had been maybe four or five years ago. He found a bag of seeds in Jacob's room under his bed when he was looking for a shirt that he had borrowed before. At first he thought that they were some old shelled sunflower seeds and tried a couple of them to see if they still tasted good, but almost immediately gagged as soon as he tried to swallow them. He spit them out, but he still felt its effects and eventually confessed that he ate them when he started freaking out in front of his dad about an hour later. The experience of what it did to him practically traumatized him, and never saw Jacob and his dad in the same way again.

He never questioned about exactly what those seeds were, until that day two years ago...when he was told to bring them to the trial from before. He had been scared to even just touch them, and tried to get out of having to do it. When that was no use, he finally asked his dad what they were, having been curious about them despite being so scared by the seeds. He never got an answer though, his dad only told him that it "was not any of his business" and for him to just do as he was told. Though he was taken aback by that, he still had begrudgingly taken the seeds to the trial, and until now, he didn't have a clue why he was being told to bring them.

Now that he knew what it was for, it made his stomach feel sick. He had no idea that it was for that guy. He didn't even know who that person was, but he still felt guilty. If he'd known that he was going to help poison someone with those seeds and make them go through what he went through, he would have outright refused to get them no matter what.

He didn't know how long he stood there, thinking about everything that was going on, but he figured it must have been awhile. He noticed that he was holding onto the sink counter, and saw he was gripping it so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. Letting go, he shook his hands out a bit and splashed a little more water on his face, hoping it would calm his nerves. He rubbed his eyes with open hands, letting the water overflow from his hands and splatter all over the sink.

It was then that he heard another splashing sound come from the still-occupied stall. It sounded like as if a boulder fell into a lake, with how loud it sounded. What freaked him out though was that water splashed everywhere like if that had actually happened. Ethan yelled out in surprise as water was thrown out everywhere from over the stall, getting the entire bathroom wet and nearly soaking him as well. He hurriedly backed away as the splash cascaded everywhere, bringing his arms up as if to shield himself. It was over as quickly as it began, yet he still stood there for awhile, shocked from the sudden explosion of water.

"What the hell," he finally said to himself, almost whispering the words. Unsure of what to do, he eventually called out, saying "H-hello? Are you ok?" He didn't know what else to say, and didn't expect a response. When he didn't get one, he, against better judgement, began to cautiously walk over to the stall. "Hey, are you alright," he asked again, "Are you still there?" He wondered if anybody had ever actually even been in the stall, and that he actually had been alone the entire time. It didn't explain how the water splashed everywhere though. 'How did that even happen though,' he wondered to himself, 'Toilet water doesn't just explode out of nowhere.'

When he was at the stall's door, he called out one last time. "Uh...sir, umm, mister...hey guy," he said quietly, not sure how to address the person inside, "Can you say something?" He put his hand on the doorknob, expecting the door to still be locked, but was surprised when the knob actually turned. He could have sworn it was locked when he first came in, that's why he thought someone was in there in the first place. It was then that he noticed he was breathing heavily, and tried to calm his breathing down. He took a deep breath, and slowly opened the stall door.

He didn't know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't what he now saw.

It was empty. Nothing was in there, nothing at all. Confused at first, he then noticed something else that was strange. There wasn't any evidence that water had just splashed everywhere in there. The walls, the toilet, even the floor was completely dry. Not only that, but the toilet looked completely normal as well, nothing was in there to explain what had caused that huge splash.

Weirded out yet a bit more calm now, he let a deep sigh of relief as he realized he'd been holding his breath the entire time. Though he had no idea what had caused the splash, it didn't really matter anyway. He had no reason to care or to try to figure out what happened, it had nothing to do with him. He might as well just go on as if it never happened. "Heh," he simply muttered, and was just about to leave.

But then he froze. He could hear a sound, it was very faint but still very much audible. It sounded like...like somebody was breathing. For a moment he thought it was his own heavy breathing, and held his breath again. The silence of the room was still broken by the sound of deep, continuous breathing. He couldn't tell where the sound was coming from, but he suddenly didn't want to turn around.

He didn't dare move now. He felt too scared to even want to think about who else could be in the bathroom with him now. He never heard anybody come into the bathroom, and it turned out nobody was ever in the stall in the first place. Yet somehow there was still somebody there, and it scared him. He didn't know if he was in any actual danger, but there was still a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him that whatever it was that was there, it was dangerous. He knew he had to do something though, he couldn't just stand there. There was only one thing he could do.

It was a split-second decision that took him even shorter to execute. He turned around as quickly as he could and, in a flash, attempted to rush and tackle into whatever was behind him. He flew through the opening of the stall...and collided straight into the bathroom wall. He bounced off it, slightly dazed from the unexpected impact. He began to look around quickly, trying to find the source of the breathing, when he suddenly realized he couldn't hear it anymore. So there he was, standing there in the middle of the bathroom, a look of fear plastered on his face, when it turned out that there wasn't anybody actually in there with him after all.

He felt foolish, after having been so scared about nothing. He had no idea why he had been so scared in the first place, but figured it must have just been because of how stressful things had become. He nearly forgot about why he checked the stall in the first, and when he remembered about the water splashing everywhere he just decided that he didn't really want to know why it happened. 'Might as well just go now, then,' he thought to himself, seeing as he had no reason to be in there anymore, 'I wonder if Dad and Jacob are looking for me by now.' He took a couple steps towards the bathroom door, but then looked back to the stalls one last time. Seeing nothing, he turned back around to leave.

Once he turned back around, that was when he saw...it. He jumped nearly a foot in the air as a scream of terror escaped from him.


	4. Close Encounter

And there it was. Whatever...it...was, it suddenly had appeared right in front of him, and was now blocking the only way out. He saw it only for a few seconds, but the image of it was burned into his mind. It was a little bigger than him, but looked short because of its stubby legs. Its arms were much longer, and were just slabs of meat with fingerless hands at the ends. Its entire body was a sick but pale shade of purple, and full of slimy, pulsating veins and blotches. However, the part that scared him the most was its head. It almost seemed like just one disturbingly-elongated neck, and was able to move freely like as if it were a muscle. And its face...it didn't even have a face. What would be its face was instead replaced with a huge, gaping hole. He had never seen anything like this thing in his life.

Ethan's eyes opened wide as the monster, now in front him, reached out for him with it's thick, slimy arms. He yelled out as he raised his arms in defense and tried to back away, but reacted too slow and it wrapped its arms around his own, trapping him and stopping him from being able to move. He struggled as much as he could to try escape its grasp, but it was too strong. It held its ground and began to pull him towards it, causing him to shout even more. He started freaking out, screaming and frantically trying to pull away, when he saw it move its "head" towards him, and saw it open its "mouth" even wider.

"Help!" he yelled out, "Somebody! Help me!" He didn't know what to do, nobody else was there to help him, the monster was going to kill him, and he seemed to be powerless to do anything against it.

As a last resort, he attempted kicking it as hard as he could, trying to hurt it in any way he could. The kicks didn't even seem to faze it, however, until one last well-aimed kick got it where he thought its stomach was. It lurched inwards and stopped pulling him in, but still kept it's grip. Seeing it as his chance, he kicked it again and again, not giving it any time to try to stop him. Finally, after the fifth kick, he felt it loosen its hold on him, and took the chance to try to pull himself free.

Suddenly, he felt himself slip out from its grasp, though a little too quickly. He pulled so hard that he fell backwards as he got away, and landed hard on the ground. He felt a sharp pain as the back of his head slammed onto the tiled floor, causing him to yelp out in pain. As he tried to get up, he felt the back of his head and felt something wet. For a moment he thought it was blood, but when checked his hand and didn't see red he realized it was because the floor was flooded with water. He was puzzled, but he had bigger problems to worry about.

He tried to get up a couple times, but felt too dizzy from the pain in his head to stand. Instead, he started to back away on his hands, trying to push himself back to get away from the monster in front of him.

It didn't try to go after him at first once he fell, and instead he could see it stumbling around a bit. It looked like it was going to fall, but instead leaned over once it was able to steady itself. Unexpectedly, it started to make gurgling sounds, and then some sort of black liquid began to leak out of its mouth. Soon, it started to come out like if someone turned on a faucet. It looked almost tar-like, and as more of it was coming out it began to diffuse with the water all over the bathroom and slowly spread across the floor.

"Jesus!" Ethan exclaimed, taking no time in trying to get away, not wanting the tar-vomit to touch him. He scrambled backwards and felt his back touch of the stall doors. There was no way he could try to run past the monster now, and he was too scared to even think straight. So he did the only thing he could think of, and threw himself into the stall, locking the door behind him once he got in. He then climbed onto the toilet seat, putting the lid down so he could stand on it.

'What the hell is that thing!?' That was the only thing he could think about right now. He had no idea what it was, or where it had even come from. It was almost as if it had just appeared out of thin air, there was nowhere that it could have been hiding. He wanted to just keep yelling and screaming, partly because he was scared out of his mind, but also so that anybody outside the bathroom could hear him. He was too breathless to say anything though, and didn't want to draw the monster's attention back to him anyway. Not only that, but he was now starting to get a major headache from the fall. He didn't want to do anything to make the pain even worse than what it already was.

Wanting to know what the...thing, was doing, he stood upright as best he could on the toilet, holding onto the stall barrier walls for support. Peeking over, he saw that it wasn't blocking the way out anymore. Nope, instead it was now in front of the stall door that he was in. It put its hands on the door, or what he thought was its hands, and saw it try to push the door open. When the door didn't budge, Ethan realized that it was only testing its strength. He yelled out in panic once again when it then started to bang on the door now, causing it to rattle around as if it were made of plywood. He jumped down from the toilet seat and pushed himself against the door, but trying to brace it didn't seem to help much at all.

He didn't know if the door would last long, and he wasn't going to let himself stay to find out. Knowing that he needed to get out of there now, he saw that there was only one other way out of the stall. There was a small space underneath the stall barriers he could fit through if he crawled, but he was going to have to move fast. He took a deep breath, and dropped down to the ground, water splashing as he then attempted to crawl underneath the stall walls. There wasn't much room, but he was able to quickly get through before the monster even seemed to notice.

He didn't even give the thing a chance to try to figure out what just happened, he bolted out of there as fast as he could, water flying everywhere as he made swift leaps through the shallow but noticeable pool of water that had now built up in the bathroom. Once he was out of there, he quickly slammed the restroom door shut behind him, letting only a little water flow past him. His back was against the door as he bent over a bit, putting his hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. "Oh God," he eventually murmured to himself, "What the hell just happened?" He wish he knew the answer, but at least now he could finally-

He stopped himself mid-thought as he suddenly realized how quiet it was. He looked around him in the hallway he was in now. There were no voices, no sounds of telephones ringing or fax machines beeping or copy machines grinding from behind closed doors. There was nobody there. He was alone. It was then, when it finally hit him, that he only had one thing to say.

"Oh crap."


	5. Messenger

"This isn't happening...this isn't happening...this isn't happening..." That is all Ethan could manage to say as he checked the rooms in the hallway, each time sounding more and more desperate as he saw that each room was empty. There were only a few doors in the back hallway: one for the guy's bathroom as well as one for the girl's, a storage closet, the janitor's room, two rooms for printers and fax machines, and the door that lead back to the main hall of the building. He looked inside every single one of them, and they were all empty. As he checked the machine rooms last and saw nobody there, he tried to rationalize how everybody could have just disappeared. He knew people were using the printers when he first came down the hallway, and thought that they would have still been using them.

He tried to figure it out, and eventually came up with the fact that maybe they just were done with them now or left to go to do something in another part of the building. Maybe they didn't need to print anything else, or send faxes to some offices either. It was a stupid excuse, he knew that, but he wanted to convince himself that it was rational after that encounter in the bathroom. He shook for a moment as the image of the monster flashed in his mind again. He brushed it off, knowing that this was all too crazy. None of this could be real, it couldn't be...

He nearly choked on his own breath as suddenly gasped out loud, almost scaring himself. He coughed, and then scrambled onto his feet, the feeling of fear lumping up in his throat. That monster...it was still in the bathroom! What was he going to do if it got out? He needed to find a way to block it off so it couldn't leave, otherwise it would go after him again. He looked around frantically for something that could help, when an idea popped into his head. He could just block the door off so it couldn't get through, all he needed was something heavy. He checked one of the printers, a real heavy duty one, and saw that it could be rolled around on wheels.

"Perfect," Ethan said to himself, as he rolled it out of the room and into the hallway. It was heavy like he thought, but he was having a hard time moving it even with wheels. He guessed that was a good thing, since that meant it would be too heavy for the monster to push the door open with the huge printer blocking the way. But all the same, he wished that there was an easier way of maneuvering the machine, there wasn't anywhere where it he could grab it properly and was having a hard time getting it into place. He eventually got it into the hallway and was about to position it in front of the bathroom door, when suddenly another thought entered his mind.

'Wait...doesn't the door open into the bathroom, not into the hallway?' He hadn't thought of that. If it could be pulled open from the hallway, then he was ok. If it could be pulled in from the bathroom, though...that pretty much made the whole thing a waste of time. He already had pushed it there, so he figured he might as well try to block the door anyway. Once he got it into place, he left a little space so he could reach behind it. He put his hand on the door handle, and attempted to pull it open. It didn't budge.

"Damn it," he said out loud, "This isn't good." He didn't know what to do now, the monster could easily just push the printer out of the way now. Wondering why it hadn't actually come out yet though, he pushed the door open slightly to try to see what it was doing. He tried to look through the crack, but couldn't see much. He opened the door just a little more, just enough to be able to see the mirrors and their reflections above the sinks. It gave him a better view, but he still couldn't see where the monster was.

'Where the hell is that thing?' It was the only thought that kept frantically flashing in his mind. He couldn't see it, but knew it was still in there. He never saw it leave...right? 'Come on, come on, just make a sound, do something,' he thought to himself, feeling the fear build up in his stomach again, 'It has to be hiding. It wants me to come in and look for it.' He shook his head and quietly closed the door, not wanting to alert it if he hadn't already.

His hands were shaky as he backed away, thinking that it still had to be in there. "It never left," he told himself quietly, "It's still in there...it has to be..." He was starting to scare himself now, he needed to do something to comfort himself into thinking that it wasn't going to be able to get him. 'I just gotta go,' he eventually thought to himself, 'I have to go find out where everybody went. There's no way they all just disappeared.' He forced himself to walk away, knowing he to move on to the exit. He easily identified it as the only door with a small see-through window in it.

But when he tried to open the door that went back to the main hall, he couldn't get it to open. "What the..." he said aloud, "Come on, turn!" No matter how hard he tried, the door knob just wouldn't budge. He felt his heart tighten up when he realized the door was locked. He could hear himself talking as if he were in the background, groaning loudly and repeating the word "no" over and over. He couldn't believe that this was happening, he knew the door wasn't locked when he came there earlier, and now that he was in front of the door he realized that the door knob didn't even have a lock. There wasn't a keyhole in it, but looking through the small window in the door he saw that there was a simple click lock on the other side. Somebody must have done it, but it made almost no sense to him that it was on the outside of the door instead of the inside.

He couldn't see farther than a few feet ahead when he tried to see if anybody was out there. It was as if somebody turned out the lights. For a moment he thought it was because the power went out earlier, but then he realized that the lights were clearly on in the hallway he was in now. The whole situation was freaking him out, and he started tapping his hands on the window, trying to get somebody's attention so he could get out. He squinted his eyes, and saw that there were shadows moving around out there, but they didn't seem to notice him.

"Now what do I do?" He had no idea. He was going to go check the other rooms again to see if there was anything he could use, when a sudden sound caused him to jump. He turned around quickly, and saw that it was the printer. Confused, he saw that a paper was going through. He walked up to it, slowly at first, but then hurried once he saw a picture was being printed. The light was dim, but there was enough to see what it was once it was done. He took a good look at it, and picked it up when he thought he had an idea what it was.

"Oh my God..." It was a picture of his room. His jaw dropped as he saw how accurate it was. His bed, his closet, even the clothes that he left on the floor in a hurry when he left that morning. It looked like an actual photo, but after the shock of seeing it wore off he could see that there were brushstrokes. He figured it was some kind of surrealism painting, but it didn't change the fact on how disturbing it was.

"Hey! Who's doing this," Ethan yelled out, almost as if he were angry about this instead of just scared, "What the hell is going on!?"

As if to answer him, the printer started up again. It seemed to chuck out the paper slower than last time, until it eventually stopped mid-way.

"Huh," Ethan said, "What's wrong with this thing?" It was still making a continuous grind-like sound, causing him to think it was broken. He saw a small red light flashing on top of a plastic flap on the side, and when he opened it up he saw that there was a gauge of some sort, well, two gauges really. One had a black circle next to it while the other had a circle divided into thirds of red, yellow, and green, like a pie chart. The black gauge was still half-full, while the color gauge was completely empty.

'What, it just needs ink?' Ethan thought to himself, 'I guess somebody was just using this before me after all.' He figured he could get some extra ink in the room he took the printer from, so he made his way in there. He opened up the door to the room, and immediately felt a cold draft blow through. He shivered, not expecting it, but went in nonetheless, not knowing what he was getting himself into.


	6. Nonsense

The door closed behind him, but other than it slamming shut it was completely silent in there. He didn't know exactly where to look, but he figured he could just take a cartridge from one of the other two printers in there. He checked the first one to his left, but the ink gauge showed that it was empty in that one too, and when he checked the one in the back it didn't even have a cartridge in it. Not sure what to do, he eventually noticed that there was a cabinet above the door he came through. It was a little high, so he pushed the printer closest to the door as close as he could without blocking it and then climbed on top of it. Leaning a bit to his side, he opened up the cabinet and found some cartridges in there, but almost all of them were corroded. Only two were still usable, but with his luck so far they'd be empty as well.

As he was about to jump down from the printer, he stopped himself when he suddenly heard something. He couldn't hear it earlier, but now he could hear something that sounded like a continuous dripping sound. It almost was like rain, but there only was one drip that would sound off every couple seconds. It was a bit unsettling, so he took no more time in jumping off and getting himself out if there. Surprisingly, the door wasn't locked like he thought it would be. It would have made sense, what with everything else that was happening.

Just as he was opening the door though, he suddenly felt something tug on the back of the his shirt. His hands reached for his neck, trying to feel for whatever grabbed him while stumbling around a bit. He backed up quickly, expecting to feel himself back into something, but only managed to trip himself up when he collided into a table. He yelled out as he thrashed his arms around, trying to ward off whatever was attacking him. He eventually forced himself to stop flailing like an idiot, and when he did he didn't see anything in the room with him.

Though he stopped moving, he could still hear movement in the room, along with constant dripping sound that was now beginning to echo throughout the small room. But he couldn't see anything! That was what frustrated him; the lights, though dim, were on but he couldn't figure out where all the noise was coming from. Whatever it was, it wasn't natural. He had to get out of there.

He shakily picked himself up from off the floor, using the table he fell on as leverage. He glanced around quickly, then made a run for the door. But after taking just one step, he felt a hand slide over his mouth. It did nothing to stifle his screaming, as he grabbed at and pushed the air around him, trying to get himself free. 'It's got me, it's got me! God please, it's got me!' He was yelling so loud with his thoughts that he could hear them, and seemingly so could his unknown attacker. He felt its grip dissipate, as if it were stunned to hear his mind. He didn't care though, he let himself fly out that door, not even bothering to look behind him.

The door closed by itself again once he was back in the hallway, but he didn't care. He stared at the door he just came through, half-expecting something to burst through and get him, but nothing happened. When he calmed himself down a bit, he made himself walk over to the printer to make the exchange. He took out the used color cartridge from the printer, and put in one of the two cartridges he took with him in its stead. He waited a little while, and let out a quick sigh of relief when he saw that the gauge showed it was now full. He pressed the "resume" button, and saw the machine continue its process.

The machine churned as it printed out the image, and as it finished it sputtered to a stop, as if it actually was broken this time. He tried to see what it was this time, but when he didn't find anything wrong he figured it was something inside of it that broke. It didn't seem to mess up what it printed though, and when he looked at this one he saw it was another painting, but not of something that had to do with him this time. It was just a picture of a wrench, a big one from the looks of it. He didn't get the point of this picture though, what was it supposed to mean? Was it so he could fix the printer? Where was it in the first place? These questions came into his mind, but he had no way to answer them.

Maybe he passed it over already when he checked all the rooms earlier, he figured he just needed to go looking for it. The janitor's room looked like a good place to start, so he checked in there first. It was small, only enough room to hold a chair, a desk, a locker, and a small TV. The desk just had papers on it that he didn't bother to read, and when he tried to turn on the TV all he could get was static. He checked the locker last, but saw it had a combination lock on it. He looked through the papers on the desk to see if the janitor had written down the combination, but couldn't find anything. Seeing as he couldn't do anything else in there, he left and went to check the storage closet next.

It was a small room, which seemed even smaller from all the stuff that was packed in there. There was a lot of cleaning supplies in there, mostly just stuff a janitor would use. There were a bunch of boxes in there as well, all stacked up in piles and lining the walls. It made him feel claustrophobic, but didn't let it stop him as began to search for the wrench. He didn't see it lying on top of anything, but he should have known it wasn't going to be easy to find. If it was even in here, it was going to be in one of these boxes. He really didn't want to have to look through every single box there, but he guessed he really didn't have much of a choice.

As he sifted through the boxes, his mind began to wonder and wander. He was thinking about the printer, and the pictures, especially the one of his room. He still had no idea how it was able to get it so perfectly, or who had drawn it in the first place. He couldn't make any sense about really anything that was going on though, and all the weird stuff that was happening kept on sidetracking him. He needed to find the wrench now if he wanted to find a way just to leave the hallway.

Drip...drip...drip...

His head snapped up, his body tense as he suddenly realized that he could hear the water again. Paranoia consumed him as he worried that another one of those...things would attack him again, whatever they were. He wasn't even able to see the last one, and now that he was in an even more cramped room he began to feel even more claustrophobic. He didn't know if he had a chance to try to get away this time, since he didn't have much room to run. He was an easy target now.

"I'm not staying," he said out loud, not really sure who or what he was talking to "Whatever you are, I'm not staying here. You can't just keep playing with me!" He felt crazy, arguing with something he couldn't see, and even more so when he didn't get a response. He wouldn't let himself stay long for one though, he immediately turned around to leave. He expected something to grab him again, to make a noise, to do something. He even gave it chances to, taking his time to open the door back to the hallway and to walk out. Nothing happened. He let the door close behind him, but as soon as it did he heard a heavy thumping sound behind it, as if something fell. He jumped, not expecting the sound, and spun around to face the door.

"It's a trap," he told himself as he put his hand on the doorknob once more. "It's a trap," he repeated quietly once again as he twisted the knob. "It's a damn trap," he whispered as he pulled open the door.

He yelped as a box plopped out, a big storage one. It lied on its side halfway into the hallway with its contents spilling out, none of which was just more cleaning supplies. It had been filled with notebooks, small brown ones that you might give to a little girl as a diary. Out of place as it was, it wasn't nearly so bad as Ethan had taken it to be. 'Sure beats seeing another monster,' he thought half-humorously to himself, 'I wonder why these were in there...hey, this one has writing on the cover.'

One of them indeed had been written on, seeing as it was paperback it was very noticeable. Etched onto the title were the simple words "My Diary." There were little doodles of people as well, which he assumed were family members of the owner. He really had no clue though, and bit his lip as he realized he was holding someone's actual diary. The last thing he had on his mind when he woke up this morning was that he was going to pillage someone's personal thoughts, but he still felt a bit compelled to read it. He sighed, and decided that he would only take a quick peek.

'October 4th,  
Mom gave this thing to draw in while we waited for Dad. I told her I'm not good at this kind of stuff, but she said to take it anyway. I saw some man give it to her, but that just seems to happen a lot now. Giving stuff, I mean. Dad isn't the only one who's been giving a lot of stuff to Mom.'

'October 7th,  
I guess I'm going to start writing in this now. It'll keep me busy over at Dad's while I'm there this weekend since he doesn't have as much stuff anymore. Dad said he was going to take me out somewhere fun tomorrow though, so maybe Mom isn't right about him after all. Maybe Dad can still be my Dad. Maybe '

It stopped there. Ethan flipped through the pages, but it didn't continue, and he didn't see any more entries. 'So much for that plan,' he thought, 'Looks like she didn't stick to her writing after just two entries.' He began to wonder how a used diary had gotten into the bin, when something shiny caught his eye. He looked down, and saw something metal poking out from the pile littered on the floor. He pulled it out, and felt his eyes widen in shock as he realized it was a wrench, the same exact wrench from the picture.

"Wh-what?" he managed to say, now definitely confused, "What...how...What am I supposed to..." He still wasn't sure exactly why he needed the wrench in the first place, so he walked back over to the printer to see if something would happen now. When nothing did, he started to look it over to see if he was supposed to fix it, but how, he didn't know. The only thing be saw was that the printer's cord was unplugged, and realized he had never plugged it in, or even unplugged in the first place when he moved it out.

"It just keeps getting weirder..."


	7. Just Like Old Times

After a bit of searching, Ethan found an plug outlet not too far away from the printer. The plug had an extension cord, so he didn't have to worry about having to move it away from the bathroom door. He was still wary of the monster in there; even though it hadn't tried to escape yet, he didn't want to take any chances of it getting out. But it was in the back of his mind for now, fixing the printer was in the front for the time being. He still had no idea what he was supposed to do with the wrench, and he figured the machine would give him some kind of hint if he plugged it in. He didn't get exactly why though, or how it was running on its own, or really anything that had happened in the past ten minutes. Maybe once he got out of there he'd get some answers.

It was stretched out, but he eventually got the plug to reach a lone outlet near the janitor's room. Once it was plugged in, he made his way back to the printer, and waited. Twenty seconds passed, and he checked to see if the ink was empty again. When he saw it was still fine, he waited another ten seconds before he started tapping it with the wrench, trying to get it to start. He even kicked it a couple times. Nothing happened.

"Well shoot," he said, a bit exasperated now, "Come on, work you stupid thing!" He kicked it again, but as he did he felt something inside of it begin to move. It slowly sputtered to life as the parts began to churn, to Ethan's relief. He looked to see what was going to be printed this time, but instantly saw something was wrong. The sounds it was making sounded more screechy, and the beginnings of smoke began to seep through its cracks. He didn't know what was going on, but when sparks started to shoot out he backed away as far as he could.

'Oh God! What did I do,' he thought frantically to himself, 'This is getting way out of control!' He yelled out in fear as an especially loud crack sounded off from the sparks flying everywhere. His back hugged the wall, not sure what to do now, when he began to hear a very familiar sound.

Drip...drip...drip...

Eyes now opened wide, he felt a familiar sickness from what was happening. He had only ever experienced that feeling once, the feeling of pure, horrific dread.

Before he could he could think about where he had felt that before, something finally set off the haywire machine. Ethan raised his arms up in defense as an explosion of paper billowed out, nearly blinding him as it all flew everywhere around the room. Everything was at rest again after just a few seconds, but Ethan didn't move for a long time. He didn't know how long, but it felt like forever to him. He eventually lowered his arms back down, and when he did all he could was paper floating all around. The ground was littered with a sea of white, he couldn't even see the cheap brown carpet anymore. He was in awe (and not in a good way), but snapped himself out of it when he saw what was on all of them.

**GET**  
**OUT**

Everyone, every single one of them, had the same two bold-print words on them. He didn't even know how that was possible, but the message itself seemed pointless to him. Of course he knew he had to leave, but he just didn't know how. He couldn't get the exit door open, and the only thing he could think of would be to kick it open, but be doubted he could just simply smash open a heavy metal door like that. He trudged his way to the exit, paper slushing around his ankles as he made his way to the door. He saw that some of the papers had gotten stuck against the small window in the door, and pulled them out to look again to see if there was anybody out there yet.

Nothing. Though he thought he could see a shadow or two moving around, he still couldn't see much, and frustration was beginning to build in him again. All that seemed pointless, he seemingly had accomplished nothing despite what he had done, which wasn't much to begin with. With closed eyes, he let out a stressful sigh and banged his head on the window, not to hurt himself, but just to pent. He felt so useless, almost as much as that stupid wrench that he had searched for...

He opened his eyes. An idea was brewing in his head, it was simple and was surprised that he hadn't actually thought of it earlier. He had put the wrench in his pocket earlier, so he pulled it out and made sure he had a decent grip on it. It felt heavy, which was a good thing for what he was going to do. He tapped the wrench on the window a few times, testing it to see how fragile it was. It seemed thin enough, so he decided he would go for it. He raised the wrench above his head, then brought it down hard, smashing it against the glass. The first time he hesitated, so it just bounced off, but the subsequent hits were more forceful and were able to crack it. The fourth and final hit finally shattered it, sending glass everywhere as it went through. He wasn't cut, but he still felt paranoid that glass had landed on his hair and clothes. He felt like the slightest movements would get him cut, and there was no way of brushing himself off without feeling like he would be shredding his hands.

But that didn't matter now, he finally had a way to get out and he needed to do just that. He put his hand through the now open space and reached for the doorknob on the other side. He fumbled around with the lock a bit, but when he heard a sudden *click* he knew that he had unlocked the door. He pulled his arm back out, and opened the door.

Light flooded into the new area with the door now open, which made it possible for him to see a bit further ahead than before. It was dim in there, but he could tell he was in one of the waiting rooms. Chairs were lined up against each other in groups of four, with a magazine table in-between each group. The room was pretty big from what he could tell, since he couldn't even see the other side of the room. In fact, he couldn't see any movement now like he had a minute ago, so decided he would call out in hope that somebody else was there after all.

"Hello?" He was a bit timid at first, but when he didn't get a response he asked a bit louder this time "Hello? Is anyone in here...I just saw some people in here a second ago...come on, somebody answer me!" He couldn't believe it. He was _still_ alone! He could have sworn he saw silhouettes through the window. Was he just going crazy? Monsters, haunted printers, exploding toilets...none of those thoughts would have come into a sane person's mind, much less his own had it been any other day.

He nervously ran his hand through hair, unsure of his situation now that it seemed more than likely he was completely alone now. He figured there was nowhere to go other than forward, and decided he was going to have find out what was going on. There were only two doors other than the one he came from though, one leading back to the main hall and the other to the waiting office. At least, he remembered that there were only two other doors, the light (or lack of light) only made the office door visible. Not wanting to trip over chairs in the dark, he kept to the light and made his way over to the office. There was a window right next to it for the people waiting to be able to ask the workers for information they needed or to turn in papers to be filed, stuff like that. He knew this from another court case he had been too, though this time as a witness for the plaintiff instead.

'I sure have been to court a lot,' he thought to himself, 'I've never really thought about it until now, but I've been here so often that I could probably find my way around the place if I ever got lost. I guess that's pretty useful now.'

"...Heh," he slightly chuckled out loud. It was then that he heard something else. His body tensed up, not sure what to make of it, when he realized it was foot prints. His hopes of finding somebody were suddenly high again as he tried to figure out where the sound was coming from. He was going to call out to them to try to get their attention, when he saw a shadow moving. His heart sank when he realized it was coming from the hallway he'd just came from. It dropped even further when he saw that the moving shadow didn't look human.

He could have sworn his heart had fallen into his stomach when he saw that it was the monster from the bathroom walking in.


	8. Lighting the Way

Ethan dove to the floor, throwing his body behind a cluster of chairs in an attempt to hide. His elbow hit a chair, nearly knocking it aside and scrambling the chairs around. His eyes watered as a sharp pain shot down his arm and into his funny bone. It took all of his willpower to not whimper in pain, causing him to grit his teeth to avoid giving away his position any further. He swore loudly in his head, having to settle for that until he could get away from the monster again.

He kept his head down, and instead listened for the padded foot steps from the other side of the room. He strained his ears, trying to hear if it was getting closer, but was having a hard time telling if any of the footsteps sounded different. All he could hear were wet slurping sounds, like as if it was sniffling with its mouth, never mind the fact it didn't have a nose. What he could tell though, was that it seemed to be looking for something. It would take a few steps, stop for a moment or so, and then repeat. 'It's looking for me...' he thought worriedly, 'It knows I'm here!'

With this in mind, he decided he would take a chance and lifted his head just enough to peek over the chairs. He steadied himself with one hand on a chair, and peered from the darkness to look for the monster. He could see it moving around, but luckily it wasn't looking towards him. He lowered himself back down, fear flowing through his body as he realized it was the same monster from the bathroom.

How did it get out? How did it move the huge printer? How did it do it so silently? These question raced through his mind, but he didn't have any answers. Heck, he didn't even know what that thing was in the first place. It didn't look like any kind of animal, at least none that he knew of, and it definitely wasn't a person. Whatever it was though, it was dangerous. He needed to get out of there before it found him, and fast.

He peered over the top of the chairs again, and saw that the monster was now heading his way. 'Gotta move!' Ethan thought frantically, and began to quietly crawl away from his spot. It was slowly coming around from the left side, so he tried to make his way to the right and around. The inky darkness made it nearly impossible to do this though without bumping against the stuff in the room. He tried to keep silent, but he couldn't help but make a bit of noise. He hoped against hope that he hadn't got its attention, but that was just wishful thinking.

Knowing better than to believe that, he kept on moving, trying to put himself as far away as possible without losing himself in the shadows. While it kept going around its own way, he eventually managed to get himself back towards the hallway he'd came from earlier. He realized he wasn't making much progress with what he was doing, but he didn't really have much time to think of a better plan. He had no idea how to deal with a situation like this; he had never been hunted before! He shook his head, and took a quick glance back into the hallway to see how the monster had gotten out. The printer wasn't moved even an inch out of place.

Before he had time to be shocked at that, however, he was going to have to deal with the monster closing in on him. It had only been a few seconds, but it seemed like it had sensed that he had stopped paying attention long enough for it to try to sneak up on him. He heard it shuffling towards him, so he began to crawl away from it again. He knew that he couldn't just keep circling away from it, he was going to have to try to find a way out. The office door was still a viable option, he just hoped it was unlocked.

He was going to have to act quickly. Once he had gotten himself close enough to the office door, he waited until the monster was far enough away, then lifted up a chair and chucked as hard as he could back towards the hallway area, so as to cause a distraction. He hid behind another group of chairs and watched, waiting for the monster to move. When it began to make its way back over to the hallway, Ethan knew that it he only had a little bit of time before it came back, so he rushed over to the office door to try to to open it, praying to God that it was unlocked.

He could have sworn he heard an angelic choir when the door opened with ease. He got in and quietly closed the door behind him, making sure not to make any more sounds. It even had a lock on it, though it did need a key for that. He was going to have to find it if he wanted to keep that monster out for good. For now, he just put his back against it, as if to hold it up in case it would suddenly collapse and let everything come in and get him. He knew it didn't matter much whether or not he did that, it just made him feel more secure.

Now that he was in the waiting office, be realized that it was pretty dim in there. He was surprised he could even see at all, but a quick glance around the room showed him that there were lit candles scattered around, probably put there after the power outage earlier. He began to think, 'I should probably look for a flashlight or something. It'll help a lot more than candles will.' He didn't remember seeing any back in the storage closet, which he now thought was a bit strange, but he figured he might find a leftover one here since the people had been here obviously didn't find their candles in the dark.

He saw that there were two doors in the room, one in the back and one to the right. There were a couple of desks in the room as well, though admittedly it was a small office after all, only meant for two or three people. He checked the desk at the information window first, being careful not to touch the curtain blocking the view from the waiting room. He could only find legal papers at first, but after a bit of ruffling through the drawers he did find a couple of family photos. It was a close-up picture of a woman holding a toddler with a tree visible in the background. They were both smiling, with the words From Alli, With Love signed on the side. He found another picture, this one in a frame, with the same woman holding a man's hand as they walked around a boardwalk, again with the smiles.

He felt something pull at his heart as he saw those pictures, not because it was romantic, but because he was realizing that they were actual people, and now they had all suddenly disappeared without a trace. He had no idea how any of this could have happened, but as usual he didn't have any way to get answers, so he just went to put the pictures back. The framed picture suddenly slipped out his hand though and broke apart on the floor. "Aw crap," he groaned out loud, before clasping a hand against his mouth and whispering, "Shoot, gotta keep quiet." He bent down to pick up the pieces, and when he did something slipped out from the pieces. He thought it was just a piece of the frame, but when he took it and held it up to the light he saw it was a actually a key! He definitely wasn't expecting that, but from the looks of it it didn't look like it would fit in the office door keyhole to lock it, it was too big. He saw there were words on it, but it was too dark to try to read what it said. He decided for now he would pocket it until he got a flashlight, or at least until the power went back on, but he was going to put his hopes up for the latter.

He moved on to the other desk in the back, but the search didn't come up nearly as fruitful. All he could find was just paperwork, but the desk was already a huge mess as it was so he made it that much harder to even try to find anything. "It's like they got Jacob to organize it for them," he muttered under his breath, "...Huh...I wonder how Jacob and Dad are doing...I hope they're still ok. They have to be, not everybody could have disappeared...right?"

He shook his head around once more. He had to focus, he needed to get a flashlight and needed to get it fast. He couldn't keep letting himself get distracted, he set a task for himself and he needed to get it done. He figured he was done with this room now, so he he decided to go through the door in the back first.

'Another closet...great...' Indeed it was another closet, but he was only only being half-sarcastic since it meant he might have a better chance at finding a flashlight. Well, might was the operative word here. It already had been ransacked, with a box of candles and its contents strewn all around the shelves. Other than that though, it was pretty bare, save a lighter and some air fresheners.

'Wait...a lighter?' It wasn't a flashlight, but it would do for now. He took it and shook it around slightly, and felt that it still had a decent amount of...whatever it was that it used as fuel. Was it gas? Oil? He had never smoked in his life, so he didn't really know what it used, or even how to use it. He got the gist of it that you had to push down some spinning button thing to get it to light, but...

He was able to light it on his first try. He smiled briefly at his own accomplishment, but knew there was work to be done. He figured he would read what the key said first, so he pulled it out and brought it to the light. He squinted, and read it as "C-B #304." He wasn't sure what "C-B" meant, but he knew the number "304" was familiar.

"Where have I seen that before...," he pondered out loud, "I know I've seen that number before...Agh, why can't I remember?" He hated it when this happened, when there something he was trying to remember but just couldn't get the memory to show up in his head. Like the phrase "It's on the tip of my tongue," this was at the tip of his brain. Frustration was now setting in again, so he decided to just try to forget about it for now. He was always weird in that if he made himself stop thinking about something he was stuck on, he would figure it out later without even trying.

With the lighter now in hand, he made his way to the other door in the office. 'Please don't be another closet...please don't be another closet...' His prayers were answered once again when he saw that it led instead to another hallway. Not much better, but remembered that this small hallway had been built to be a way to get to all of the other offices in that half of the building, making it easier to travel between them without having to weave through the crowds of people in the waiting rooms. He remembered this from one time when he had been maybe eight years old, and being bored he had been walking around the building while he waited for his Dad to get paperwork done about adopting Jacob. He'd gotten his Dad worried sick when he suddenly realized that he was gone, but he was relieved that Ethan had figured out how to get back on his own.

Now he could finally put that knowledge to use, which unfortunately meant that he knew that most of those doors would be locked. He'd gotten lucky with the office door being left unlocked, but he doubted that the rest of the doors would be unlocked as well. 'Still, it wouldn't hurt to try,' he thought to himself, a little optimistic that at least one of the other eight doors could be opened.


	9. Down to the Wire

With the lighter in hand, he first tried the door right across from him, but the door knob wouldn't budge. Locked, of course. He expected it, and was thinking the rest of the doors would turn out the same way. He was a little surprised that a few of the doors' locks seemed to be broken as well, since when he tried to open them occasionally his hopes would be raised as the knob would turn, but be dashed once he realized the handle was loose and wasn't able to open up the door. 'A hallway full of locked doors and broken locks? Why am I somehow not surprised,' Ethan thought sarcastically.

After the first couple, he checked the door at the end that would lead back to the main hall. As he got close, he felt something was wrong, but couldn't tell what. He was a bit apprehensive, and just stood in front of the door for a moment or so, before finally reaching his hand for the door knob. He looked down, and his heart almost stopped. He was glad he had looked, because if he hadn't he most likely would have shredded his hand to bits. Barbed wire was wrapped around the handle, with his hand only an inch or two away from touching it. He flinched as he suddenly threw his hand back, nearly throwing himself off balance from the force.

He gathered himself together once he was done swearing under his breath from the near-injury, and got to thinking how he was going to get through this door. Somebody (or something, as he reminded himself of the monsters) had laid a trap for a reason. There must be a way out of there through the door, otherwise there'd be no point of the trap. At least, he _hoped_ that was the reason. For now though, he figured he was going to have to find something that could cut off the wires, so he went back to checking the other doors in the hall.

It took about five more doors before he found one that wasn't locked or broken. A small sigh of relief escaped him, as he didn't really expect any of them to open. He pushed it open and, stepping through, used the lighter to extinguish the pitch-black darkness in the room. Even with the light of the small flame, it was hard to see clearly in the dim room. It looked to be another office, though much bigger than the last one he came from. This one had cubicles in it, and counted there to be six of them. There were windows on the far wall, but these had shutter shades on them instead of curtains. When he saw them, he quietly made his way over there (in case another unseen monster was in there with him) and peered through. Pushing the shades slightly open, he couldn't see through the window at all, as it was complete darkness out there as well.

He had been hoping that he could see if there were people outside, but now that that was out of the question, he began to feel a bit of despair weighing heavily in the pit of his stomach. It was almost as if someone had laid a film over all the windows, just to spite him. He began to wonder if he was just dreaming right now, seeing as how nothing was making sense.

"Dreaming, huh...more like having a nightmare," he muttered to himself. He let go of the shutters and turned back to the office he was in, knowing he was going to have to find something that could help him move on. "There's gotta be something here that can help," he told himself as he began to ransack the cubicles, "Something...anything...please..." He tossed papers around, threw drawers out from their desks, and chucked useless office supplies behind him as he searched. Normally, he would have felt bad about making such a mess, especially out of other people's stuff. It was different now though; there weren't any people there to upset anymore.

After tearing apart all six of the cubicles, he hadn't found a single useful thing. The only interesting thing he had found was that one of the drawers was locked. He had already ruled out the key he had found earlier since the lock was too small, so he decided to just leave for now and keep the lock in mind in case he ever found a small key. He was a bit pissed off that he had spent so much time and effort for nothing, but he kept reminding himself that he needed to keep moving if he wanted to get out of there.

He headed back into the hallway and continued to check the doors, trying to find at least one more unlocked, non-broken, trap-free door. Something must have heard his wish, as the last door left that he checked was the only one that met all three of his requirements. 'Of course it would be the last door,' he thought irritatedly as he opened the door. He felt a breeze blow through as it opened, blowing out his lighter after a couple seconds. "Crap crap crap," he said out loud, a hint of fear in his voice as he tried to light it back up again. A couple clicks later, and there was light again, illuminating his scared face as he held it close. He was about to let out a sigh, but quickly stopped himself, mentally berating himself for almost doing something so dumb.

He entered the room, expecting to see another office, but instead found a somewhat-large empty room. The room was completely barren: there were no desks, no supplies, there weren't even any windows on the walls. "Something's not right," he whispered to himself as he cautiously walked into the room, "It feels like a...like a trap..." He suddenly felt that it probably wasn't the best idea to have walked so far into the room, and was about to leave when he heard _it _again. Faint, yet still barely audible, it sent chills down his spine.

Drip...  
Drip...  
Drip...

'Oh God,' he thought desperately, 'Not again! Not now!' He didn't want to turn around, he knew that there was something in the room with him now, and he knew that he was trapped with it this time. He also knew that he didn't really have a choice if he wanted to survive. So, he did, and he once again saw the bathroom monster, now blocking the door. He didn't know how it got in here without him hearing, or if there were actually more than one of these things and it had been hiding in the shadows. But none of that mattered right now. It was advancing on him, and he was going to have to act.

He had always considered himself a pacifist, and was bothered even from having to kill bugs in the house. He didn't think he had it in him to kill it, let alone have the power or strength to do it, but did be really have a choice? He pulled the wrench out of his pocket, gripping it tightly with his free hand. There was no more running, it was either fight, or die.

He gulped, then thought aggressively, 'It's either me, or him...it...whatever it is. It doesn't matter, I can't be scared! I have to fight!'


	10. Inner Struggle

**A/N: Well, I didn't think I'd really make it to this point, but now we're at the 10th chapter. I consider myself a bit of a procrastinator, and don't usually make any headway with my stories past the first few chapters. I'm still going strong though, and don't plan to give up on this anytime soon.**

**I'd like to thank everybody who has taken the time to read this. I know I haven't gotten too many reviews, but I am glad to see that the story still does get quite a bit of traffic. It helps give me the motivation to continue to know people come back to this when it's updated. ****Really, thank you so much for reading this!**

**Now, back to the story!  
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* * *

'Damn it, I'm doing it again,' he thought angrily to himself, 'I've gotta stop over thinking this, even that's distracting me!' No sooner had the thought crossed his mind that the monster made the first move. It lunged out for him, or at least attempted to, it was more of a hop really. Its arms were outstretched, however, and nearly got a hold of him and nearly causing him to drop the lighter. He jumped backwards, almost extinguishing the flame from the quick movement. 'Gotta be smart about this,' he thought to himself worriedly, 'If the light goes out, I'm dead.' With this in mind, he attempted to swing at the monster with the wrench, but the attacks were only half-hearted and didn't even hit it.

"Come on, I can do this," he exclaimed out loud, "I can't hold back! Come on!" He took another swing, this time a bit more forcefully, but still wasn't brave enough to actually hit it. 'What's wrong with me? Fight the damn thing already!' Deep down though, he knew he couldn't bring himself to hurt it. It wasn't that he was sympathetic towards the monster, definitely not. No, it was something deeper than that, it was the reason he became a Pacifist in the first place. Well, he considered looking into the religion once, at least. He thought that it was a religion, he wasn't really too sure.

With that in mind though, the best his conscience would allow him would be self-defense if it actually hurt him. Then, all hell would be let loose. He couldn't even bring himself past the technicalities that it had the intent to kill, and possibly even eat him, and had already tried when it grabbed him back in the bathroom. In fact, so far he had hurt himself more than the actual monsters...

'Damn it pay attention!' His thoughts were broken as he saw a fleshy pulsating limb flying at him. He tried to get out of the way, but the smack still got him in the arm. He couldn't believe how strong it was, as it caused him to be thrown onto the ground. A healthy dose of pain flooded his left arm, which caused him to drop the lighter while at the same time making him realize that right now personal beliefs were not helping him. Once again, his own thoughts were distracting him, and now with the lighter on the floor he couldn't even see any more since it went back off.

The room was now shrouded with pitch-black darkness. He swore under his breath as he got on his hands and knees and tried to find it in the area where he had dropped it. He hoped that it was as dark for the monster as it was for him, but luck didn't seem to be on his side that day so he doubted it. He suddenly thought that he brushed the lighter with his hands, and reached out for it to try to grab it. All he got was a fistful of squick as he felt the soft flesh of the monster. Naturally, he screamed, and took no time in swinging away this time. He felt something connect with his weapon a couple times, and a howl of pain confirmed it. He fell as he swung around, and landed on something hard which he immediately recognized as the lighter. He got off of it and picked it up as quickly as he could, not knowing when the monster would attack again.

He stood up, and after a few clicks the small flame once again reappeared. It took a moment or so for him to locate the monster again, which had somehow wandered away from him during the brief scuttle. 'Guess they really can't see in the dark,' he thought a bit happily, 'Good to know.' With the light back though, it went after him again, its large arms outstretched as it came towards him. He let it get as close as he dared, then swung away once again, smashing its arms with the wrench. Every time it was hit, it would make a chilling groaning sound, but wouldn't stop its admittedly slow pursuit. He soon realized that even though it was slow, his weapon was too small to reach the monster past the arms without it being able grab him. So if he went to thwack its head, it would easily be able to hold him there with its powerful arms. He could try throwing it, but he didn't really want to risk losing his only weapon.

It was then he had an idea. Taking advantage of the monster's slow speed, he began to try to circle around it. He didn't dare to go too fast and lose the light again, but he kept a steady pace. At first it tried to keep up with him, albeit a bit difficultly, turning to face him before he could get behind it. But eventually, he was able to get himself far enough out of its reach that he chanced a blow to the back of its head. Hesitant at first, he forcefully brought the wrench down onto it, and saw the monster stumble a bit once it was struck. He backed up, and after few seconds, it recovered and turned towards him, almost as if it were staring him down, before letting loose a torrent of the tar-like substance that he had seen before in the bathroom. He threw himself out of the way this time, holding onto the lighter tightly to make sure he didn't lose it again. The light went out, but at least he still had it.

He clicked the lighter back on, and saw that the tar was bubbling on the carpet. Steam rose as it ate away at the floor, making him cringe as he realized that could have happened to him. However, now that he had a plan to fight this thing, he followed through with it once again. He attacked again and again, not letting up and giving it a chance to retaliate again, but still was able notice how, disturbingly, there wasn't the sound of bones breaking and smashing. While he accepted it as something that made it so he wouldn't feel sick, his thoughts wandered a bit once more and wondered if the monster was made up completely out of flesh. From the looks of it, it certainly seemed so, but then how could it even move? Wouldn't it just be a blob without bones?

"Stop thinking about it!" He almost didn't realize that he was yelling, or that his clothes had splatters of blood on them. He was standing over the body, it "head" smashed in and no longer recognizable. It was now completely flat, deflated, almost as if it were just a balloon. Blood mixed with tar as a puddle of it formed under and around the body. He backed away, the desensitization beginning to wear off.

'What...what did I just do...'

His insides felt sick, he didn't know whether to throw up or to cry. As he stood there in front of the body, staring, he felt something strange in him. The emotions he felt were so mixed that he truly didn't know how to react. So he didn't feel shocked, he didn't feel regret, he didn't feel really anything. And that it was scared him the most: that once the desensitization did begin to go away, that there wasn't any emotion there to feel. All he could do was stand there, wide-eyed as he tried to process what had just happened.

He didn't know how long he stood there, but it seemed to be an eternity. At point though, he began to hear...something. He couldn't tell what it was, as it was too faint at first. Was it a moan? A scream? He couldn't tell. All he knew was that he was starting to feel even more light-headed. He felt as if the very air was vibrating and separating, causing him to clutch at his head in pain. 'Why does this hurt!?' He was screaming in his mind, but if he had yelled out loud he might not have been able hear himself. The sound had inexplicably grown louder, and seemed to be echoing throughout the entire room. Now, it was almost too loud to understand what it was, and he had to cover his ears to keep from going deaf.

It was a siren. Now that he knew what it was, he suddenly felt afraid of it, almost as of he knew what it meant what would happen. He'd only heard the sound in movies and the news, when it would be used as an alarm and be used as a warning for tornadoes and radiation leaks. But this was something different, he knew that something worse was about to happen. No sooner had he thought that though, that something truly horrific began to happen.

"Oh my God...w-what's happening? What's going on!?" He couldn't see too far with the small light that he had, but he could still tell that something was happening too the entire room. The walls were beginning to fall apart, with at first the paint peeling off, and then the actual wood and plaster coming off a bit at a time and floating away. The ceiling followed as well, starting in the middle and causing a small hole, and then deteriorating away. He turned around the room, not knowing what to do, and quite frankly was being scared the hell out of his mind. He tried to speak, to say something, to cry out in confusion, but he just couldn't find his voice.

As it neared the end (at least, he hoped it was almost over, whatever it was that was happening), the siren began to die off, becoming quieter and quieter until it could no longer be heard. He looked around him, taking in his new surroundings, but having a hard time comprehending it. With the restraints of the room now gone, the darkness seemed to go on for miles in every direction. His breathing was shaky, and his hands followed suit as well. In fact, his entire body seemed to be shaking, and he could do nothing to stop it. Feeling wobbly, he fell to his knees, feeling them hit something metal. Looking down, he saw that the floor was now gone, and somehow been replaced with a metal grating. He never even noticed it happen, but now that he saw it, he could see that the endless darkness continued beneath it.

He didn't know what was going on, but his best guess was that he had been warped to hell.


	11. Dream Logic

Ethan was shell-shocked. He wasn't sure what to do, not from not knowing or not being able to look around, but because what had just happened defied reality. He kept telling himself, "This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real," but it didn't help. He felt that this was only a nightmare, a very bad dream that he would wake up from. He thought that maybe if he "realized" that he was only dreaming, then he would be able wake himself up. It always seemed to work when he had nightmares before, but when he didn't find himself in his own bed instead of this hell, he decided to try something different. In his dreams, if he noticed himself blinking his eyes then he would suddenly wake up, whether or not if he knew he was dreaming. He closed his eyes as tight as he could, and then opened them in a flash. He still saw the endless darkness and the metal gratings.

Again he felt the conflicted feelings between wanting to throw up and wanting to cry, and once again he did neither. However, he did feel an emotion this time: fear. He was scared and alone, and he had no idea why any of this was happening. He felt that now would have been the perfect time to wake up, but when still nothing happened he had no choice but to stop moping and try to figure out his circumstances.

He decided to see how far the darkness went, so he picked himself up off the floor and went in the direction opposite of the door. He held the lighter a bit ahead of himself to try to illuminate as much around him as he could, but he it still didn't help much. If anything, the bubble of light around him only looked bright in comparison to the pitch-black darkness that surrounded him. Adding to the solitary feel, his footsteps echoed metallicly as he walked across the grating floor. It was a strange feeling that it gave him, but he tried to ignore it as best he could and continued on. He stopped just short of where the floor ended, almost not noticing it at first. Where the walls had once been was where it no longer continued, yet what was once the room still continued on for what was seemed like infinity. He peered over the edge, yet saw no bottom to the pit beneath him. Ironically, he considered that as good thing, since if he had seen the bottom it probably would have made him dizzy.

He shook his head, and headed back to the door that he had come from. He began to wonder if the office hallway had been warped as well, and shuddered at the thought. The thought distracted him, and he didn't even notice that the monster's body was no longer there, leaving behind only fresh red and black stains on the metal where it once laid.

When he made it to the door, he thought it was weird how there were no walls, yet the door still stood, and he couldn't see the hallway from where he was either. He was suddenly afraid that he was trapped in the room and that everything else in the building has disappeared, but pushed the thought away and opened the door. Luckily, the hallway was indeed still there, and if the situation weren't so dire he would have breathed a sigh of relief at that point. The floor was still a metal grating here as well, but at least the other three walls of the hallway were still intact. He also noticed that all the doors that were locked or broken were no longer there, leaving only the two doors that he had checked earlier and the barbed wire door left. He still didn't have anything that could get rid of the deadly wire, so he had no idea what to do now. 'I already checked everywhere that I could,' he thought to himself with an internal sigh, 'I don't know...maybe I missed something...'

With that, he decided since he had really nowhere else to go, he would backtrack to everywhere he'd already been. It was possible that things had changed with the warp, he figured, so maybe more than a few cosmetic changes had taken place. He entered the the cubicle office that he had torn up first, since the other door would lead back to the rest of the building. The first thing he noticed when he went in was that there were walls in this room, and that the floor in here was same carpet from before the change. Of course, the paint on the walls was chipping away and exposing mold underneath it, so it wasn't really too much of an improvement, but he would still take it over no walls at all. The room was still a mess, and the windows were even still there, but he didn't even bother trying to check them out again.

Not wanting to get caught off-guard by another monster, he decided to scope out the room to see if any were hiding. He kept checking over his shoulder as he looked, paranoid that he would get attacked from behind again. Even though he knew he could defend himself now, he still didn't want to have to fight if he didn't need to. So, he looked around as best as he could. What ended up catching his eye, however, was what had been drawn on one of the walls.

There was a huge circle, with three smaller but still considerably large circles of equal size drawn inside of it. He thought it must have been a symbol of some kind, as there was one on the bottom-left, one on the bottom-right, and one centered on top of both of them, with none of them intersecting each other. However, there was a single large triangle drawn on them, with one of three corners each reaching the middle of one of the circles. He didn't recognize what the actual symbol was, but what he did recognize was what else was written. In each circle was a number: the top had the number 3, the bottom-right had the number 0, and the bottom-left had the number 4, all of which seemed to have been drawn with deep crimson red color.

Again, "304" was coming up, and he still couldn't remember where he had seen it before. He'd never seen the symbol before, so he had no idea what the number had to do with it. He felt his hand in his pocket, and once he touched it it, he pulled out the numbered key he had found earlier. As he brought it close to his face, it suddenly fell out of his hands, causing him to swear out loud. Lucky for him, the floor wasn't chain link here so the key didn't fall through any holes, and he was easily able to find it. He picked it up, and holding it close to his face once more he was able to read it.

"C-B 302"

...What. That was about the only thing he could think of at the moment. He was sure the number was 304, he remembered seeing it on the key. Confused, he looked back to the symbol on the wall, and became even more baffled when he saw that four had been replaced with a two as well. 304, 302, there wasn't really too much a difference to him, and it didn't really matter much. It was the fact that it had changed in the first place was what bothered him. Seeing as stranger things had happened so far though, he just racked it up as another reason that he was just dreaming.

Still, obviously the symbol and the number were important in some way. What he got out of it was that it must have been the key to all the weird things that were happening, and if he figured out what it was for, maybe he would finally wake up. That's what he hoped, anyway, so he stared at, trying to see if there was something he was missing. He didn't understand what it was, and there it seemed too obscure and out of place to not mean anything, so maybe there was something he hadn't noticed yet.

After a bit of critical searching, he eventually noticed that the single large triangle had arrows at one end of each of the three lines. Not only that, but each line was labeled with a miniscule number of their own. The line from 3 to 0 was labeled "1", from 0 to 2 was labeled "3", and 2 to 3 was labeled "2". He knew it had to mean something, but he wasn't sure what. After a bit of thinking, he tried to see if the labels were meant to be in some sort of order. He put them in numerical order in his mind, and came up with 3-0, 2-3, and 0-2. Still, it puzzled him, as he wasn't sure what it meant even if he put them in order. Maybe it was a code? What would it be for? Was it for something he'd already seen but couldn't open? He thought back on all of the locked things he'd found so far: there was the locked drawer in the room he was in right now, there was the door in the back hallway with barbed wire, there was...

It was then that it hit him. The janitor's room, the one all the way back in the first hallway where he first met the bathroom monster, the locker in there had a combination lock on it. And the numbers worked perfectly to fit the code that a lock like that would use. He had to keep in mind that none of this made any sense or was really connected in any way, but he was using dream logic right now, and dream logic dictated that this was the way to go. It wasn't like he had any other leads on moving toward anyway, so he figured he might as well go test his theory.

With that, he left the room back into the hallway. He went down the hall to the door that lead back the way he came, his feet clanking on the metal grating floor that replaced the regular carpet that used to be there. He wondered why only some parts of the building were falling apart, while other parts were only just beginning to peel and mold.

"Dream logic," he told himself again, and opened the door that lead to the candle-lit office. He was surprised that there were still candles in the room once he went in, but their positions had obviously changed. They had all been placed in the middle of the room, and circled around what seemed to be another drawing of the symbol, though this one was smaller and didn't have the numbers in it. He stood in front of it, examining it to see if there was anything there to see this time as well. Surprisingly, this one didn't have anything for him, it seemed to be there, well, just because. What he did notice though was that staring at this one made him feel...weird. He couldn't really explain it, when he looked at it, it felt like something was groping at his mind. It weirded him out pretty bad, so he decided to just move on.

Exiting the office, he found himself back in the waiting room. As he closed the door behind him, however, he began to hear metallic foot steps echoing throughout the room. The walls were still here as well, but the floor had been swapped for metal. He didn't let himself pay too much attention to it though, since the foot steps meant that there was something in there with him, most likely another one of the monsters. Even though he knew he could defend himself, he wanted to get through this as quickly and quietly as possible, so he lost no time in reverting back to his original plan of hiding behind the chairs and tables that were still there.

As he crouched down behind the nearest cluster of seats he could find, he put out the lighter he was carrying and put it away to avoid detection. The light from the hallway at the other end was still on, so he could still see enough to be able to move around anyway. As he cautiously made his way around the side of the room, his eyes darted around to try to find where the monster was, but he couldn't see it. He figured it must have been in a darker part of the room for now, since he could still hear it's foot steps clanking around. When he realized this, he let himself move a little faster, and eventually made his way to the door that lead into the hallway he started in. As he got closer, however, he saw that the top half of the door was gone. Like, completely gone, as if it had been sliced clean off.

A bit bewildered, he stood up and looked over the edge, and saw that the hallway was now flooded with water. The explosion of papers still left its mark as well, and had mixed in thickly with the water to create a gooey mess. The pool was about knee-high, maybe a little higher, and it worried him. Something about it just didn't seem right. He looked behind him, and when he saw nothing he decided (against his own better judgement) he would chance trying to wade through it. He put one leg over and leaned himself in, flinching when he felt how cold the water was. His foot eventually was able to find solid ground underneath the mess, and got himself completely over the door right after. Now completely in the hall, he waited a moment or so, suddenly tensing up, as if he were waiting for an ambush.

Nothing happened. And when nothing continued to happen, he relaxed a bit as best as he could.

"It's ok, it's ok," he told himself, "Nothing's gonna happen, just gotta move." He didn't really believe that though. Still, he waded himself through the slew of what he assumed was quickly becoming paper mache. Aside from that though, the hallway looked to be the same as it was when he left it. The printer was still there, which surprised him, not that it was still there, but that it wasn't electrocuting the water. Again, he took it as dream logic, and continued on. Once he made it to the janitor's room, he realized that the door was still whole. While this usually would have been obvious, it now meant that he might not be able to get through due to the water. Still, he attempted to open it, and found that the top half was the only part that swung open.

"Oh...I guess that makes sense, I guess," he said out loud, and climbed over, ready to see if the number code would really undo the lock.


	12. Realization

Darkness shrouded the room. There was a click, two clicks, three...finally, there was a flickering of light, and suddenly the small area was visible enough to see. It was a bit of a relief to see that the room was, for the most part, unchanged. The paint was peeling off the walls in spades, and the air in the room itself felt thick. Breathing wasn't a problem, it just wasn't very comfortable on the lungs.

Ethan looked around in the dim light, and found the locker to the left. He walked up to it, thinking to himself that he better be right about the code. Moving the desk chair over to the locker, he set the lighter on top of it so that he could see without having to use only one hand to open the lock. Once he was all set up, he took a deep breath, let out a sigh, and started twisting the lock switch around.

"What was it now...um, 30," he said, as he turned it to the right. "Then...23..." He turned it to the left. "And finally...um, I guess 0-2 meant just 2." He turned it back to the right. The marker landed on two, and hesitated. He hadn't thought of what to do of it didn't work, or worse, if it was another trap. His hands twitched involuntarily, and nearly messed up the combination he had put in. He let himself breathe deeply again, and once he calmed himself down he set himself. He had to stop fretting over nothing, deciding that he couldn't keep doing that to himself, and pulled on the lock.

It came undone.

He almost didn't expect that. After everything that had happened do far, he hadn't expected that something would actually go the way he planned. 'I should start using dream logic more often,' he thought to himself, a satisfactory tone in his mental voice. He almost smiled as he took off the lock, and as he became one step closer to moving on he felt almost giddy in realizing that he had figured out some sort of puzzle that had been laid out for him. He didn't even attempt to hesitate this time when he then opened the locker, though luckily he didn't have a reason to this time.

There was a note and a key there. For such a large locker it was pretty bare, though he didn't give it much thought and instead went straight for the key. He held it up to the light, but didn't see any defining marks on it. It was small though, so he figured it might be the one for the locked drawer in the giant symbol room that he had torn apart before the room went to hell. He looked at the note next, and when holding it up to the light he saw that it was a poem of some kind. It read:

What you'll find and what you'll see,  
May be different than you want be,  
But do not worry, do not fret,  
The worse to come, is yet.

"Well...that's a bit ominous," he said simply, not sure how to respond or what to think, "Maybe I'll just hold onto this for later. Hopefully when things start to make more sense." And with that, he stuck it in his back pocket, as well as putting the small key in his other pocket with the 302 key. Finally, he put out the lighter and stuff that in his pocket as well, so he would get it wet in case he accidentally dropped it. 'Sure am carrying a lot of stuff,' he thought a-matter-of-factually, 'Kinda wish I'd brought my old backpack now.'

Now at the half-door, he climbed over and splashed into the swamped hallway. The water and paper was disturbed from his entrance, but it looked irregular, as if something was blocking part of the small ripples and waves under the water. He knew he had just promised himself he would stop worrying so much about nothing, he felt he would be ok if he broke it at the moment. He still felt uncomfortable about the whole thing, and still thought that something just wasn't right about it. He hurried his way through, at least, as fast as he could with how thick the flood had gotten. Every time he thought he felt something touch his leg, he just told himself that it was just a random clump of paper that hadn't dissipated into the rest of the water yet. It helped, and he almost made it to the other end...when he suddenly felt something wrap around his leg. He tried to turn around, but whatever it was, it yanked his leg and sent him sprawling.

"Oh sh-!"

He didn't get to finish screaming, as he was now underneath the water. It was shallow, but he was being held down by the thing, and there was too much junk to be able to see. He couldn't even yell out in shock or pain; if he tried to open his mouth the thick sludge would just block off any sounds he made. He flailed around, not knowing what to do or how to escape, and only managed to claw out at the water around him. All this made what little air he had been able to breathe in before being sunk become wasted. His lungs screamed for oxygen, almost as loud as his own mental screams, and there wasn't anything he could do. His body went slack, he couldn't struggle anymore...

Suddenly, he felt the grip on his legs loosen, and a second later it -whatever "it" was- let go. He was tired, yet he willed himself to move. He pushed himself up onto his knees, and once his head broke through the surface he began to gasp for air. He spat out water that he had swallowed, the gunk sticking to the sides of his mouth. He tried to catch his breath, and as he did he wondered why the thing had let go. Did it think he was dead? He didn't know, but he wasn't going to give it another chance to prove his latest theory. He got back up onto his feet, and as he did he saw something serpent-like swimming back towards the janitor's room, it's large dorsal fin noticeably parting the water-paper mix.

'Not good! Not good!' He mind couldn't process any more than that. It was all he could do to turn away from it and run as best he could back to the waiting room. It was a short distance, but it seemed to take forever to get to the door, especially since the monster could swim much faster than he could run. Heck, he wasn't even running, he was just wading his way across as fast as he could.

'I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna-'

"Let go of me!" He shouted, as his thoughts were interrupted by the monster once it caught up to him. It felt like a tentacle was wrapped tight around his leg, and this time it was ready to completely annihilate him. It was like a vice, and it just kept squeezing harder and harder until he thought his leg was gonna pop. In a panic, he fished through his soaked clothes for the wrench, and when he pulled it out he made sure he had even even tighter grip on it. In a cry of pain, he slammed the wrench down hard onto the long, stiff fin that protruded from beneath the murk of the water.

A good chunk of it chipped off and fell into the water, while the sea monster underneath made a bone-chilling shriek that was only slightly muffled. It began to thrash around, spasming and splashing water everywhere. It had let go of Ethan as soon as it was struck, and the moment it did he rushed as fast as he could to the waiting room door. Once he made it, he practically threw himself over the edge. He landed on the metal floor on the other side a little harder than he would have liked, but he was just glad he was still alive, and still in one piece as well.

He moved himself over to one of the chairs and pulled himself up onto it. He sat there for a moment or so, his breathing heavy after the attack. He would have gladly stayed like that for a lot longer, but a painful throbbing in his left leg soon caught his attention. He cautiously touched it, and bit his lip in pain when he barely poked it. He was hurt pretty bad, and the only consolation he had was that it wasn't broken, since he obviously could still walk on it if he needed to. Still, he imagined that it was still going to cause some serious bruising later on...if he was still alive by then, that is.

That last thought made him aware that there was still another monster in there. Almost on cue, he looked to his right, and saw it standing there less than ten feet away from him. His heart rate was already high, but now it shot through the roof as he saw it approaching him. He knew the thing was big, but it seemed to tower over him as he sat in the chair. It looked to be six feet tall at the very least, so it had a couple inches on him there. He figured it just seemed bigger than it really was because of its block-like body.

However, now was not the time to be scared, and he was going to have to move. He groaned as he got up and put weight on his leg; the pain was bad, but bearable. He limped away from it, intending to circle around the room the long way to be able to get to the door to the candle office safely. He was still faster than it, but it seemed to have some intelligence since it just took the short way to the door instead of following him. When he saw what it was doing, he knew he was going to be forced to fight again. Still, he wasn't going to put a whole lot of time into killing it. He needed to hurry, he just wanted to get this done and over with as soon as possible.

When he got close enough to the monster, he picked up a nearby chair and steadied himself, before charging at it and swinging the seat around. He caught himself about to shout out a war cry and stopped himself, he wasn't about to let himself do something stupid. Instead, he just attacked the monster enough to eventually be able to push it out of the way, then pushed himself into the room once he was able to open the door. The monster didn't end up even trying to fight back, which confused him a bit but otherwise was a relief that he wasn't hurt more.

Now in the candle-lit office, he opened the door to the back hallway, and made his way to the wall-symbol room. He didn't encounter a single monster on the way, and didn't find one waiting for him once he made it to the room. He looked at the symbol on the wall again, still not sure what it actually meant, when he remembered he had a new key now. With the small key in hand, he walked over to the locked desk drawer. Not being able to crouch due to his leg, he instead gingerly got into his knees. He attempted to put the key into the keyhole, and when it fit he immediately knew that this was the right one. He twisted the key with ease, and when he heard a small *click*, he let out a sigh. He pulled it open...

...And found a pair of pliers. It was a let-down for a moment; after all that time to find out what was in the locked drawer and all the trouble he went through, this was a bit anti-climatic for him. When he realized what he could use the pliers for though, it almost scared him a bit.

'This can't just be a coincidence,' he thought worriedly, 'Somebody planned this. Somebody...somebody's watching me. Testing me.' His thoughts went back to the back hallway, to the door with barb wire on it's handle. They were waiting for him in there, whoever they were, he just knew it. He got up, knowing that moving on now could possibly mean something horrible for him now, if that poem he found were to mean anything.

He had no other choice though. He was going to have to open that last door, and confront Them.


End file.
